Military Documents Verify Drug Program On Which Perfect Killer Is Based

Although there is very, very little information available on the military's psychopharamacology program, I was able to interview a number of people (including Col. Rick Gabriel) and develop a surprisingly clear picture of things.

Yesterday, thanks to the generosity of NBC News Investigative Producer Robert Windrem, I received a stack of documents he obtained several years ago under the Freedom of Information Act.

I've used FOIA myself on a number of occasions (one such time helped me break the story of an illegal Nixon campaign slush fund called the "Townhouse Operation.") The problem is that using FOIA means having enough information so that you can make a specific request. My own attempts to find documents based on "nondepleting neurotrop" were not specific enough.

In addition, the current Bush Administration has tightened up FOIA information releases and has made it harder and harder to obtain public documents.

Rick Gabriel helped me along with the quest because he had been interviewed back in 1989 by NBC reporter Fred Francis for a "Spotlight" segment on what was then known as "the brave pill." Windrem produced that segment.

It was a fascinating segment on an important issue, but oddly enough, the story never caught on elsewhere. Because of the time limitations of television, many of the truly amazing facts regarding the "Pharmacological Optimization of Military Performance" could not be developed in the Francis/Windrem Brave Pill segment.

I was unaware of all the additional data, of course, and created Perfect Killer's drug, "Xantaeus," from what interviews I had done and data collected more than three years ago.

I have not yet thoroughly absorbed all of the documents, but I am astounded now by how much more of my "fiction" in Perfect Killer is true today than it was yesterday.

You can read those documents yourself. I will be creating .pdf versions soon.